Where The Bee Sucks (There Suck I)

Where The Bee Sucks (There Suck I)

Sheet Music by Special Request only

Performed by Amy Koop & Michael Mikulin

This song from The Tempest is sung by Ariel, a sprite who is in the service of the sorcerer Prospero. Prospero decides to renounce his magical powers (“I’ll drown my book”). Ariel sings this song while helping to attire Prospero, as the sorcerer removes his wizarding robes and dresses in his city clothes, in preparation for leaving his magical powers behind. The song lyrics reflect Ariel’s anticipation of gaining freedom from service and being returned to the natural world. The song proper can be found in Act Five, Scene 1, Lines 88-95. Prospero’s introduction is taken from his speech earlier at 5.1.50-57. Note: Some of the line breaks have been altered to more accurately reflect the musical setting.

Introduction (Prospero)
But this rough magic
I here abjure; and when I have required
Some heavenly music (which even now I do)
To work mine end upon their senses
that This airy charm is for,
I’ll break my staff, Bury it
certain fathoms in the earth,
And deeper than did ever plummet sound
I’ll drown my book. (Pause, harp glissando)

(Piano Interlude)

Verse (Ariel)
Where the bee sucks, there suck I:
In a cowslip’s bell I lie;
There I couch when owls do cry.
On the bat’s back I do fly

Refrain
After summer merrily.
Merrily,
Merrily shall I live now
Under the blossom that hangs on the bough. {original text ends here}

(Piano Interlude)

Verse
Where the bee sucks, there suck I: {my additions and repetitions}
In a cowslip’s bell I lie;
There I couch when owls do cry.
On the bat’s back I do fly. . .

(Cello & Harpsichord Soli)

Verse
Where the bee sucks, there suck I:
On the bat’s back I do fly

Refrain
After summer merrily.
Merrily,
Merrily shall I live now
Under the blossom that hangs on the bough
(Interlude a key higher)

. . . hangs on the bough . . .
. . . shall I live now . . .

Coda
Merrily shall I live now
Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.
In a cowslip’s bell I lie;
Where the bee sucks, there suck I!

Verse 1
Tell me where is fancy bred, {he}
Or in the heart, or in the head?
How begot, how nourishèd? [nour-ish-ed]
Reply, reply.
It is engender’d in the eyes, {she}
With gazing fed;
and fancy dies, and fancy dies {together}
In the cradle where it lies.

Chorus
Let us all ring fancy’s knell; {he}
I’ll begin it, –ding, dong, bell.
Let us all ring fancy’s knell;
I’ll begin it, –ding, dong, bell.
Ding, dong, bell. {together}

(Harp /Strings Interlude)

Verse 2
Tell me where is fancy bred, {she}
Or in the heart or in the head?
How begot, how nourishèd?
Reply, reply.
It is engender’d in the eyes, {he}
With gazing fed; (fancy dies) {she}
and fancy dies, and fancy dies {together}
In the cradle where it lies.

Chorus 2
Let us all ring (let us all ring) {he & she alternating}
fancy’s knell; (ring fancy’s knell) I’ll begin it, –ding, dong, bell.
Let us all ring (let us all ring) fancy’s knell; (ring fancy’s knell)
I’ll begin it, –ding, dong, bell.
Ding, dong, bell.

Coda
Ding, dong, ding, dong, ding, dong, bell.

Note: The repetitions of text (“and fancy dies”) are my own addition, as is the decision to make the song a duet. I have kept the original tri-syllable pronunciation of “nourished” to accommodate the rhyme, but I have modernized the pronunciation of “engendered” to make it easier to sing.